Transterpreting Multilingual Electronic Meetings

Communicating in a non-native language during a traditional, oral meeting is difficult, but a Group Support System (GSS) along with online machine translation (MT) can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the discussion. An experimental study shows that a group facilitator can use a Web-based translation service to support a multilingual meeting, but completely automated language support is likely to be more efficient for large groups.

The Temporal Dimension of Electronic Meetings: A Study of Synchronous and Asynchronous Idea Generation

Electronic meeting systems can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of group discussions, but relatively little research has investigated use of the technology in asynchronous environments. In this study, five groups of 10 students participated in synchronous legislative sessions and five groups of 10 met in asynchronous settings. Results showed that there were no differences in meeting process satisfaction, production blocking, evaluation apprehension, and total and relevant comments generated, but synchronous groups believed there was more participation and were more satisfied with the comments. Although there could be less feeling of social presence, use of asynchronous, distributed meetings might become more prevalent as groups seek to reduce travel

A Social Movements Perspective on “Issue” Surfacing in Brand Communities

This paper develops a model of how an “issue” surfaces in weakly-structured interactions characteristic of socialmedia. Understanding how individuals’ thoughts acquire the status of an “issue” worthy of collective concern is anessential prelude to understanding how individuals may be able to mobilize resources from powerful others viasocial media. We develop a model of such issue surfacing by drawing upon the social movements literature tointerpret interactions by members of Starbucks’ brand community. Participants negotiate and refine “issues’ that areworthy of collective action

The Impact of Group Cohesiveness on Decision-Making Outcomes under Conditions of Challenging and Hindrance Time Pressure

Group decision making is increasingly important for the successful completion of software development projects. Group oriented development approaches such as agile methods, which emphasize a sense-and-respond approach are becoming an integral part of software development. These methods are being used by an increasing number of organizations as a means of improving the agility and quality of the development process, and within these processes groups are increasingly involved in critical decision making. Groups are required to make regular group decisions and group members work closely with each other to develop software in time-boxed iterations. However, the literature lacks a clear understanding about how varying degrees of time pressure affects the decision outcomes of the development groups. As group cohesion is viewed as the most fundamental issue facing group decision-making processes, in this research-in-progress paper we develop a research instrument to measure the impact of time pressure and group cohesion on decision-making outcomes

Electronic Facilitation of Large Meetings

Many meetings involve large groups exchanging oral comments in a face-to-face environment, yet few studies have investigated how electronic facilitation can benefit these discussions. In this paper, we studied two large oral meetings (group sizes of 38 and 37) and two computer-based meetings (group sizes 33 and 35). Results show that, as in smaller groups, members of electronic meetings experience less production blocking and evaluation apprehension and generate more total comments, relevant comments, and words per comment. However, contradicting prior research, participants in the oral meetings were more satisfied with the process

Machines as Teammates: A Collaboration Research Agenda

Humans will soon need to adapt to a collaborative setting in which technology becomes a smart collaboration partner that works with a group to achieve its goals. It is therefore time for collaboration researchers to explore the vast opportunities afforded by smart technology and to test its utility for enhancing team processes and outcomes. In this paper, we take a long view on the implications of smart technology for collaboration process design, and propose a research agenda for the next decade of collaboration research. We create a reference model to frame the research agenda

Social Influence In Computer-Mediated Communication: The Effects On Group Meeting Outcomes

Studies of managers and knowledge workers reveal that they spend a significant amount of their time in meetings, suggesting that meetings are an important part of one's working life. Findings in Group Support Systems research suggest that using computer-mediated communication enhances idea production in group meetings. Nevertheless, little attention has been given to how the communication medium, in electronic brainstorming, influences group meeting performance. Using a laboratory experiment, 259 subjects were randomly assigned to 51 groups. Three different treatment conditions were used: no public screen, public screen presented at the end of the meeting session, and public screen provided throughout. The results show that there is a significant performance difference between groups under the three treatment conditions. The findings of this study offer striking evidence that there are social group processes that may account for these performance differences including the self-evaluation potential, social loafing and performance matching effects. Implications of these findings for both researchers and practitioners are discussed

A Linguistic Analysis of Group Support Systems Interactions for Uncovering Social Realities of Organizations

Language represents the medium through which we encounter reality and can be viewed as a human social action (Holtgraves 2002). In this study, we apply speech act theory to analyze the data collected in a study by Trauth and Jessup (2000) and demonstrate that GSS can be an effective tool for diagnosing the social life of an organization. Our linguistic analysis confirms previous research findings that both the topic and the group size influence the pattern of discussion, especially when issues are threatening. In addition, when GSS is applied to such an issue, linguistic analysis helps to uncover hidden defensive speech routines. Identifying the speech acts of GSS discussions may therefore complement positivist and interpretive analysis by examining if participants’ engagement is superficial or profound, if consensus is reached or blocked, and if certain speech acts lead to dysfunctional organizational learning. Taken together with Trauth and Jessup (2000)’s study, we show that social realities revealed in GSS discussions are multi-dimensional and that, by adopting a different research stance to better understand the role of GSS, a variety of research benefits may be derived

The Impact of User Interface Design on Idea Integration in Electronic Brainstorming: An Attention-Based View

This paper introduces an attention-based view of idea integration that underscores the importance of IS user interface design. The assumption is that presenting ideas via user interface plays a key role in enabling and motivating idea integration in electronic brainstorming (EBS), and thus advances productivity. Building upon Cognitive Network Model of Creativity and ability-motivation framework, our attention-based theory focuses on two major attributes of user interface: visibility and prioritization. While visibility enables idea integration via directing attention to a limited set of ideas, prioritization enhances the motivation for idea integration by providing individuals with a relevant and legitimate proxy for value of the shared ideas. The theory developed in this paper is distinct from previous research on EBS in at least two ways: (1) this theory exclusively focuses on idea integration as the desired outcome and studies it in the context of IS user interface; and (2) rather than debating whether or not EBS universally outperforms verbal brainstorming, the proposed theory revisits the links between user interface and idea integration as an attention-intensive process that contributes to EBS productivity. Idea integration by individuals within a group is an essential process for organizational creativity and thus for establishing knowledge-based capabilities. Lack of such integration significantly reduces the value of idea sharing, which has been a predominant focus of the EBS literature in the past. The current theory posits that the ability of electronic brain-storming to outperform nominal or verbal brainstorming depends on its ability to leverage information system (IS) artifact capabilities for enhancing idea integration to create a key pattern of productivity. The developed theory provides a foundation for new approaches to EBS research and design, which use visibility and prioritization, and also identify new user interface features for fostering idea integration. By emphasizing idea integration, designers and managers are provided with practical, cognition-based criteria for choosing interface features, which can improve EBS productivity. This theory also has implications for both the practice and research of knowledge management, especially for the attention-based view of the organization.